Energy production will be the preferential issue over the forthcoming years and Bolivia will be able to become the South American energy core, the newly appointed Minister of Energy Rafael Alarcón stated.

During the assumption of office of such Ministry, as a separate entity from the Ministry of Hydrocarbons, Alarcon stressed that this decision is aimed at producing some resources for the Bolivian state on the basis of the export of electricity surplus in the country.

The Minister of Hydrocarbons, Luis Sánchez, tried to explain that his institution will be only now focuses on exploitation, export, trade, storage, and gas and oil transportation.

While the newly elected established Ministry of Energy will boast two departments; One focusing on electricity and alternative energies, and the other on the development of technologies for top-quality resourses as Lithium.

In view of the foregoing, we will continue centering on Lithium exploitation and exports, not only as a raw material but also as a final product, as the enrgy of the future, Alarcón said.

Actions on nuclear energy will be also consolidated. There will be no dangerous facilities, he stated, but we already have the plan to start the construction of a research center in El Alto City, which is close to the Bolivian capital.

As reported by the authority, the national service will have a greatest importance, one of the main issues for 2025 Agenda: stating that all Bolivians must have electricity.

In addition, the Andean-Amazonian hydroelectric potential, which boasts over 40 thousand megawatts (MW), will be exploited.

In this way, in the future it will be possible to stop using natural gas to turn the energy matrix into hydroelectricity as a renewable resource, Alarcón said.

In this sense, Sánchez clarified that Bolivia must increase its alternative energy sources, and then make the corresponding transition from the capacity of those produced by fossils to renewable energy.

For this reason, geothermal studies and wind projects are being encouraged, already used at Cochabamba Department for 27 MW.

Bolivia expects to hit an export of 8,000 megawatts of electricity for 2025, which is part of its aspiration to become an energy center in the Southern Cone, by contributing with nations as Brazil, Paraguay, Peru and Argentina.

During the swearing-in ceremony, Evo Morales assigned Rafael Alarcón as Minister of Energy.